Design firm Crosby Studios has partnered with augmented reality technology company Zero10 for a pop-up store in Manhattan that aims to offer a virtual shopping experience.
Located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, the pop-up allows visitors to digitally try on a selection of indoor outfits designed by local studio Crosby Studios.
Designed to complement the augmented reality (AR) experience, the pop-up’s physical space is a “physical entrance into the Metaverse,” according to the team.
“This is my first experience working with digital clothing, and rather than trying to merge the digital with the physical – to tone down the virtual reality aspect of it, if you will – I’ve instead tried to embrace the digital nature of the Celebrating the collection,” said Crosby Studio Founder Harry Nuriev.
The storefront features a classic SoHo storefront with pillars painted over with gray and white checks to suggest the integration of the physical and the virtual.
Visitors enter the space into a gleaming white antechamber that leads into a hallway covered in a checkered fluorescent “pixel” pattern found in many of Crosby Studios’ designs.
On one side of this hallway is a bar area where the team offers boba tea to visitors.
At the end of the hall is a large lounge area with alcoves along the walls, plush stools and cocktail tables. The same pixelated pattern continues in almost every aspect of this space, and ceiling tiles have even been removed to suggest the pattern.
From here, visitors can enter “fitting rooms” equipped with QR codes that enhance the digital shopping experience.
A digital only fashion collection with five different styles was developed by Crosby Studios together with Zero10.
Visitors try on the clothes by downloading an app on their smartphone and then pointing the phone at themselves in the mirror to see how the clothes would look on them, or at another person to project the clothes onto them .
The collection features a range of shiny, futuristic outfits that vary in size depending on the wearer’s body type.
The aim of the project was to make consumers more comfortable with digital fashion by integrating it into the familiar routine of visiting a physical store, according to the team.
“Our project with Crosby Studios is a showcase of how design and technology could coexist in increasingly merging physical and digital worlds,” said George Yashin, CEO of Zero10.
“We wanted to create a new concept for pop-up space that responds to the needs of retailers to attract a new generation of consumers, but also evolve the format of pop-ups that are no longer about product presentation” said Yashin.
Crosby Studios is based in New York City. Other design projects include a couch upholstered in Nike jackets and an apartment designed for the founder with industrial details and purple sofas.
Images are courtesy of Crosby Studios.
The pop-up will be on view in SoHo from September 7th to 18th. See the Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
